[FONT="]Commemorative Roll - William Mather | Australian War Memorial[/FONT] Flying Officer William Mather is now listed on the Honours and Awards database here: [FONT="]Honours and Awards - William Mather | Australian War Memorial[/FONT] (The service details are stated at the time of the award.) DaveB started this thread: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-air/38062-ww2-australian-casualties-raaf-raf-etc-etc.html#post422867 And Marks posted this info: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-air/38062-ww2-australian-casualties-raaf-raf-etc-etc.html#post423440 This alerted me to another Australian in the RAF who was not on my database. Then William Mathers nephew John posted on the thread: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-air/38062-ww2-australian-casualties-raaf-raf-etc-etc.html#post483475 Since that day four months ago, many emails with details on Williams life have passed between particularly John, (Williams nephew) with much information gathered on William and his family and how he became to be born in Australia and finally in the RAF. The story begins here so I hope you enjoy some of the life of William Mather who was but one of more than 55,000 who gave their lives in Bomber Command. Unable to copy and post for some reason so I have uploaded the word document. I have fixed the wording / Now for the images View attachment William John Mather RAF 2.docx A PROUD AUSTRALIAN KILLED IN THE RAF The story of: Flying Officer William Mather (DFM) RAFVR 23/04/1920 – 22/06/1944 In 1911, John Fellowes Mather a young man of 18, from New Delaval, a town of Blyth, in the county of Northumberland in England, sailed to Australia to make a new life for himself. He went to live with his grandparents in the New South Wales mining town of Weston near Cessnock. John worked in the mine where his grandfather was an Under Manager, however a few years later came the rumblings of a war in Europe which involved Britain and so all the countries of the Empire were also at war. John, like more than 300,000 other Australians answered the call and enlisted in the AIF on the 3rd December 1915. He was a Sapper with the 3rd Divisional Signal Company who embarked for overseas on May 1st 1916 on board HMAT Benalla. He served in Belgium and France and returned to Australia on 11th May 1919. (John Fellowes Mather) John married Olive Mather (nee Dixon) who was born at Adamstown New South Wales and they lived in Abedare Street Weston where Olive was the Owner/Proprietor of a drapery / dressmaking shop. Their first child was born on 23rd April 1920 and was named William after John’s father in England, William Walton Mather. A second son John Dixon Mather was born on 3rd April 1930. Young William attended Weston Public School and later Cessnock High School until the age of 15 when their father was called back to England to work in his father’s Newsagency and Tobacco business in Blyth, Northumberland. The family sailed for England in June 1935 aboard the S.S. Jervis Bay which later became famous as the Armed Merchant Cruiser, HMS Jervis Bay which was sunk on 5th November 1940 by the German Pocket Battleship, Admiral Scheer. “The Captain of the Jervis Bay, sacrificed his ship which was the only escort protecting the 37 merchant ships of Convoy HX-84 sailing from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Britain. For this action, Captain Fegen was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. Jervis Bay was subsequently immortalized in the 1943 World War Two movie “San Demetrio London” about one of the tankers in that convoy which was abandoned after being shelled and burning. The tanker was re-boarded by some of the crew the next day and sailed successfully to Britain.” William Mather (aged 15) continued his education at Blyth Grammar School and after completing his education was employed in the Poor Law department at Northumberland County Council. Following the outbreak of WW2, William like his father, answered the call however he chose the RAF and enlisted in 1940, training initially as a wireless operator air gunner. (William Mather RAF) .jpg] William with his younger brother John (right) when on leave: William was training on Dominie’s and Proctor aircraft from February to June 1941, after which he was attached to Lysander Air Sea Rescue at Shoreham, while in December 1941 he was with “A” flight, 25 OTU flying Anson’s. At the end of December he went on to “C” flight, 25 OTU in Wellington’s where on 21st January 1942 he qualified for The Caterpillar Club when he abandoned his Wellington aircraft (9646). In May 1942, he had joined 97sq and was on Lancaster (5487) as a front gunner where his pilot was Flying Officer David Maltby who went from 97sq to 617 Dambuster Squadron and was sadly killed on 15th September 1943 aged 23. Their tasks during this period were Gardening to Kiel Bay, Copenhagen and Tromper Bay with Operations to Warnemunde and Mannheim. Through 1942 and 1943, William was completing Operations to Germany and Italy and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after 34 sorties and 199 flying hours. His Citation reads: This NCO has taken part in many successful sorties against German and Italian towns. His targets have included Danzig, Le Creusot and Milan by DAYLIGHT. Sgt Mather's skill and courage have invariably been praiseworthy. When on a short leave home to Blyth on the weekend of the 13/14th May 1944, William, who now held the rank of Flying Officer, attended the Mayors Parlour to receive savings certificates in recognition of his gallantry. Another change occurred at the end of May 1944 when William was completing another 15 hours of day and night exercises with “B” Flight, 21 Course, 5 L.F.S. We now come to the horrendous night of 21st/22nd June 1944 where (6) 49sq Lancasters (38 in total from 8 squadrons) were lost on “Operation Wesseling” among them Flying Officer William Mather (DFM). The aircraft was flown by S/L V.E. Cox with (6) Flying Officers as crew. 21-22 June 1944 49 Squadron Lancaster I NE808 EA-D Op. Wesseling Took off from Fiskerton at 2314 hrs. Crashed at Loenhout in the province of Antwerpen 24 km NNE from the centre of Antwerp. Lancaster ME808 (EA-D) S/L L.E. Cox Pilot (Killed) F/O J.H. Ingram F/E (Killed) F/O J.McG. Freckleton DFM NAV (Killed) F/O W. Mather DFM W/AG (Killed) F/O W.E. Day A/G (Killed)F/O M. James DFC B/A (Killed)F/O A. Hambly A/G (Killed) Crew on their 2nd operation with 49 Sqdn Concerning the casualties for this night, in general, it was the last occasion that Bomber Command would suffer so badly during operations to the Ruhr. Most of those shot down fell victim to night-fighters that successfully infiltrated the bomber stream. (W.R.Chorley 1944, page 290) All the crew were killed and are buried in Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium. F/O Freckleton had served previously with 100 Squadron, while F/O Mather had flown with 97 Squadron, their awards being Gazetted on 19 October and 15 June 1943 respectively. From: Roll of Honour 21/22 June, 1944; WESSELING: There was nothing unusual about Wednesday 21 June, 1944; the weather, as with previous days remained dull and the slight northerly wind kept temperatures a little chilly. For aircrew the morning passed slowly, whilst activity on the airfield indicated that ops were on the menu for that evening. There had been no operations for the past five days so just after lunch a small crowd had gathered as an airman pinned up the Battle Order; twenty aircraft were detailed with the main briefing at 20.00hrs. For those crews listed, the usual pre-operational routine began, then later, after a noisy meal in the Sgts' Mess and with coffee flasks filled, crews walked or were ferried over to the main site for specialist briefings and then the main briefing. The tape on the wall map showed a route ending just below the Ruhr. Germany for a change! A force of over 130 Lancasters from 5 Group was to attack the synthetic-oil plant at Wesseling, 15 miles south of Cologne - marking would be by 5 Group Mosquitoes using the 'Newhaven' method. At 03.32hrs, combat exhausted 49 Squadron crews began landing back at Fiskerton. Their opening remarks gave the first hints of the disaster that had befallen the aircrew of 5 Group. The experienced S/Ldr Leonard Cox and crew, were killed when their Lancaster was brought down over Belgium; they are all buried in the Antwerpen (Schoonselhof) Cemetery. Geoff Swallow. Cheers Geoff
Hi all , thanks to Geoff for all the work done over the months which has culminated in William being listed on the Australian Commemorative Roll and also Honours and Awards at Australian War Memorial , to DaveB for starting thread and to Marks for first enquiring about William after his visit to RAF Museum at Hendon . The bio that Geoff has put together has parts of Williams service information that non of my family were aware of and is a comprehensive and very moving account of Williams short life . WW2 Talk is truly a great site - Many thanks to all , John
Just noticed I omitted to add the two listings of the Commemorative Roll and Honours award. [FONT="]I am pleased to inform you that approval has been granted to add Flying Officer William Mather to the Commemorative Roll at the Australian War Memorial. His online entry can be viewed here on our website:[/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]Commemorative Roll - William Mather | Australian War Memorial[/FONT] Commemorative Roll - William Mather Service number: 157746 Rank: Flying Officer Unit: 49 Squadron RAF Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Conflict: 1939-1945 Date of death: 22 June 1944 Place of death: Loenhout, Belgium Cause of death: Air operations Cemetery or memorial details: Schoonselhof Cemetery, Belgium [FONT="][/FONT] [FONT="]Flying Officer William Mather has now been added to our Honours and Awards online database here:[/FONT] [FONT="] [/FONT] [FONT="]http://www.awm.gov.au/research/people/honours_and_awards/person.asp?p=637274[/FONT] Honours and Awards - William Mather Service number: 1171003 Rank: Sergeant Unit: 97 Squadron. Service: Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Conflict: Second World War, 1939-1945 Award: Distinguished Flying Medal Date of London Gazette: 15 June 1943 Location in London Gazette: Page 2731, position 42 [FONT="][/FONT] Cheers Geoff
Well done Geoff - I'm glad the thread I started led to such a great result. All of your great work paid off and I'm glad that the family are so happy. A shining example of why this forum exists.
Do they have a copy of the DFM citation? Hi Drew, This was from the newspaper however not sure if they have the original. Cheers Geoff
